In the Shadows
by trickypirate12
Summary: Where was Tahno from when Korra arrived to Republic City until she became it's hero? He was there the whole time, but where?
1. Chapter 1 Welcome to Republic City

**I'm having writers block but somehow over a four day period I pulled this out of my hat. Reviews help, maybe the next chapter will come easier if I get some reviews. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra.**

A tiny, yet annoying headache drums inside my head and eventually causes me to wake from my restful sleep. I survey my room and notice my arm around a girl whose face I can't put a name to. I reflect on the previous night and try to make sense of the big blur. Suddenly it all hits me; a smirk plays on my lips as I remember last night. I examine the girl trying to remember her name, but I'm not good with names and frankly I don't really care. Besides she has served her purpose and I probably will never talk to her again. I notice the time and realize that I need to be going to practice soon. I stir in my bed, waking the girl next to me.

"Tahno…" She whispers with her eyes still glued shut. I stop moving and smirk. Her green eyes flutter open and she gazes at me intently. I lean over her, pushing her brown hair out of the way, I start to kiss her neck. She moans lightly at my every touch and I too even moan into the skin on her neck. I trail kisses up her neck slowly with my waved hair skimming her skin. My lips reach her ear and I gently nibble on it then I place my lips extremely close to her ear.

"Shouldn't you be leaving?" I whisper quietly. I pull my head away and stare at her green eyes. She looks caught between desire and annoyance. Without a word she crawls underneath my arm and climbs out of my sheets. I scroll my eyes over her body once more as she dresses herself. Once she is finished she turns and looks at me, still lying in the bed.

"Can you give me a ride home?" She asks sweetly with her hands on her hips. But I know from last night that she is not sweet or innocent. I prop my head up with my arm and just stare at her for probably the last time.

"It's not that far of a walk." I say in my monotone voice. The girl shows a look of defeat and sighs. She grabs her tote and slings it over one shoulder angrily. She walks out of my room and I watch her strut down the hall and reach the front door to my apartment. She looks back to my room with irritated green eyes then lets herself out. I smirk to myself. I love having control. I slowly make my way out of bed and enter the washroom. I prepare myself for the day by showering, styling my black hair, and applying my eyeliner. I know I'm going to be late for the Wolfbat's practice, but I'm the captain and Shaozu and Ming won't argue with me. I grab my keys and head out the door, locking it behind me. I climb in my shiny black Satomobile and start it up. I pull out of my parking space and make my way onto the road. Everything seems like a normal day, people going out for lunch, pedestrians walking around enjoying the weather; everything is how it always is at noon in Republic City. But to my surprise this isn't a normal day, a flash of white runs past me and dashes down the road. I slam on breaks startled by the appearance of such a large animal. What is that? Is that a polar bear dog? I watch the giant white beast run down the street causing Satomoblies to swerve off the road left and right. I stare at the beast as it runs down the city street. Is that someone on its back? It looks like a girl, one with tan skin, dark brown hair and a watertribe getup. I lean over the steering wheel staring at the sight before me. The polar bear dog and its rider turn a corner and finally exit my vision. I lean back into my seat. Did that just happen? I shake my head and sit there for a moment collecting myself, the headache is back. Finally I pull back out onto the road and continue my commute to the arena. I arrive at the large golden building and park in a spot that is only meant for me. I step out of my Satomobile, lock it, and then shove my keys into my pocket. I amble up the front steps to the arena with my hands still in my pockets.

"Hey Tahnooo-oh." A man at the door tries to greet me but I just walk past him silently. I make my way through the back halls of the arena until I reach the locker room. I change into my training uniform leisurely. I take off my normal attire and slip on a long sleeved blue shirt and sweatpants, and then I cover them in the armor like suit. I walk into the gym, tightening the athletic tape around my hand. Without looking up I can hear my teammates already practicing. Ming sends earth disks flying as Shaozu set flames to a few targets he set up for himself.

"Hey where you've been?" Ming asks. He doesn't dare show frustration, he merely asks it out of curiosity.

"I had company." I admit as I finish adjusting the tape around my hands. I decide not to mention the polar bear dog; it was probably just some lunatic that will no doubly be caught by the police. "Everyone warmed up?" I inquire. My teammates simply nod as an answer. "Great, let's get started." We form ourselves into a triangle and start to bend at each other. Unlike other teams that I've watched practice, we use the whole gym when we spar. Rather than just blocking the element thrown at us we train ourselves to dodge and strike. We run all around the gym throwing our elements at one another, flipping off the walls and performing complicated tricks. This is my favorite thing in the world, bending. It's the best sensation ever to have this kind of power running through your veins. Pro-bending is my world. Practice time is my sanctuary, where I forget about everything. But unfortunately practice always seems to go by much to quickly and soon the next team is coming in from the locker room, the Tigerdillos. They glare us down as we continue to train, even though it is no longer our time slot.

"Hey Wolfbats…your time is up." The Tigerdillo captain announces. I pause my water whip motion and redirect it at the Tigerdillos. The whip snaps at them inches from their faces, but returns to me and I stream it back into the tub of water.

"Were not finished, so how about you and your little loser squat just sit and watch how it's done." I mock, taking a step towards them. The Tigerdillos stare at me in shock. The earthbender on the team steps up and stands face to face with me.

"I'm gonna make you eat those words!" He yells in my face. I stand unmoving with my eyes locked on the earthbender. Does he really think he can intimidate me?

"Do it." I taunt. The earthbender lifts up a fist to punch me. I don't care if he punches me, Butaka will take him out of a few games if he does, and that would just be one less team we have to worry about. He is just about to strike when his teammates grab him and pull him away from me.

"Not here! We'll settle this in the ring!" The Tigerdillo captain yells, clearly aggravated. I smirk at the furious earthbender and motion for Ming and Shaozu to follow me back into the locker room. We walk past the Tigerdillos at a slow pace, while they watch us angrily.

"See you in the ring then, losers." I say over my shoulder before we reach the locker room. Ming and Shaozu laugh and tease about the looks on their faces once we enter the locker room.

"Hey Tahno, you wanna come with us to lunch?" Ming asks while taking his gear off.

"Who's buying?" I ask while removing my chest pad.

"I will." Shaozu volunteers reluctantly. I nod my head in agreement and start to change back into my normal clothes. In a matter of minutes we are all changed into our usual attire and we proceed to exit the arena. We step out the front doors and are greeted by a small crowd of fan girls. Once they notice us on the steps they all scream like they have seen a spirit.

"Look! It's Tahno!"

"Shaozu!"

"Ming! Oh my god! Tahno!" They are screaming all of our names at different times and it just sound like a mob. I see some girls clutching pictures of me, I sigh, I'm not really in the mood to sign anything. I saunter down the stairs with my teammates following. The girls get louder as we approach. I can feel the headache returning and I thrust my hands into my pockets. I penetrate the crowd of fan girls and they clear a thin path for me and my teammates. None of the girls have the courage to touch me they all just scream my name and ask for autographs.

"Tahno I love you!" One girl screams.

"Who doesn't?" I sneer. I try to ignore the rest of them and head in the direction on my Satomoblie. Once I reach it I salute with two fingers to Shaozu and Ming as they both climb in their own cars. They wave back and we all start our engines and head to the restaurant we agreed on. It's hard to get out of my parking spot when these insane fan girls are surrounding my Satomobile. I rev my engine loudly which seems to scare most of the girls into backing off. I pull out of the parking lot and drive down the street towards the restaurant. I park my car next to Shaozu and Ming at the corner where the restaurant sits. We meet up in the front and enter the building together. We are immediately seated in the corner of the joint and we sit and wait for our server.

"So who else won last night, Shao?" I ask Shaozu, who always watches every match to scope out the competition.

"The Badgermoles, Catgators, Hog Monkeys, and the Fire Ferrets." Shaozu announces.

"So nobody serious." I add. Suddenly our conversation is interrupted by three girls. They approach us shyly. When they finally do reach us only one of them speaks.

"Hey, I'm Siku, this is Ila and Akai." Siku greets while motioning to her friends. Ila and Akai wave from behind Siku. "We're really big fans of the Wolfbats and we were just wondering if we could sit with you guys…" Siku admits shyly. We do look a bit bare today; maybe we could use a few girls for a posse effect.

"Sit then." I order. The girl's faces light up but just as they're about to sit a crash is heard from the back of the restaurant. "What was that?" I turn in my chair and see people on the other side of the restaurant looking out the windows. I stand and walk out of the restaurant, curiosity getting the best of me. Nothing seems to have happened in the front but once I turn the corner I see a Satomobile crashed into the building next to us, a girl standing behind the damaged vehicle, and a polar bear dog. My eyes widen. It's the same girl. I hear the sirens of the police airship over head and I look up to see metalbender cops zipping down from the airship. The cops pull three guys out of the crashed Satomoblie and arrest them. I can see the tanned watertribe girl talking to a metalbender cop but I can't make out any words. The cop tries to tie her up with his ropes but she catches it in her hand. Before I know it the girl has jumped back on her polar bear dog and is running away with the metalbenders right on her tail. "Who the hell is this girl?"

**Hope it's not too bad. When I have writers block I can't really tell a good story from a bad one. Reviews help, thanks for reading this chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2 A Leaf in the Wind

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra.**

I retrieve the newspaper from my front step and walk back inside. I gaze at the front cover, delighted to see my face. My eyes skim the article curious on what they wrote about me this time. 'The Wolfbats are not backing down this year, or any time soon by the looks of it. The three year defending champs are looking better than ever. Will anyone ever break their rein on the arena?' The front page is covered in details about the last match and info on my fellow Wolfbats and I. 'Tahno, captain of the Wolfbats, really knows how to string his team together. Every match is flawless in form and most end in a knockout.' I smirk at the paper and turn the page to explore for more pictures of myself. Instead I'm greeted with a picture of a girl riding a polar bear dog down a street. My eyes widen and I search the page for an article on the mysterious watertribe girl. 'Republic City opens her arms to a new resident, Avatar Korra.' The Avatar? I read the full article, her escape from the Southern Water Tribe, her arrest, and how she is now living on Air Temple Island with the airbending Master Tenzin. I examine her picture closer, she looks tough, but her beast looks tougher. That polar bear dog is ridiculously huge. It looks like something that would eat everything in its path. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and throw the newspaper down on the counter. I flick on the radio and listen to the same thing that I just read. I sigh and turn off the radio just in time for Shaozu and Ming to bust through my front door.

"Hey Tahno tonight our-"

"Ever heard of knocking? Savages." I say cutting them off angrily. The exchange a glance then Ming hesitantly continues.

"Tonight our match has been rescheduled to a later time slot." Ming informs me.

"Why?" I ask while noticing the newspaper which is flipped to the picture of the Avatar. I glance at my teammates hoping they don't spot it. I swoop down to pick it up and I carry it away and shove it in a drawer while Shaozu explains.

"The Catgators requested a later match but they won't say why." The firebender explains.

"Yeah, so now we will play after the Fire Ferrets and the Platypus Bears." Ming finishes. I nod, turn my back on the drawer and face my teammates.

"Let's go to the arena and try to get a little more practice in the gym then." I suggest. Although it's not much of a suggestion because I know they will come, they would follow me anywhere. The two nod and we file out of my apartment.

The arena is already becoming crowded outside. Some crazy pro-bending fans will wait for hours to get good seats at the matches. We push past the pack of people and walk up the golden steps to the arena. Some of the people cheer as we enter while others boo and shout names at us. I ignore all the voices and prepare myself for the night ahead of me. I try to focus myself on beating the Catgators senseless. Finally we make it to the locker room. Instead of piling myself down with the training armor I just slip on a sleeveless black shirt and shorts. My teammates do the same, Ming wearing green and Shaozu wearing red. We stroll into the gym to find it occupied by the Rabaroos. None the less we saunter into the gym, approaching the rival team. I catch the eye of the captain,Umi,the feisty waterbender. This team I love to mess with the most. The Rabaroos are one of the few all female teams. I smirk as is get closer and closer to the three women. Umi loses focus on her bending and with a sigh she turns to face us.

"What Tahno?" She spits my name as if it is a swear word. I stop merely a foot away from Umi and stare down at her. Her teammates, Adi and Ila both stop their bending and turn their head towards us. I reach my hand out as if to caress Umi's face.

"I just noticed you and thought-" Umi snatches my hand before it reaches her face and she glares up at me with irritated silver eyes.

"Stop teasing!" Umi growls.

"Oh so you do want me?" I mock. Umi throws my hand back down to my side and continues glaring at me.

"What are you talking about?" She shouts wildly.

"You called me a tease." I explain shortly. I look behind Umi and notice Adi and Ila also glaring at me. "Aw come on ladies, why the frowns? Why can't we all just be friends?" I stalk past Umi and greet her teammates by placing my arms around their shoulders. "Unless of course, you want something more." I drawl suggestively. Adi and Ila scowl at me and free themselves from under my arms. I hear Ming and Shaozu chuckle as they stand and watch.

"Seriously what do you want?" Adi asks looking as if she would just love for me to burst into flames.

"Goodness you ladies are eager to please me aren't you?" I taunt.

"Come on Tahno, just spit it out." Umi snarls. I chuckle lightly.

"We're about to use the gym." I admit.

"No you're not, we're using it." Umi argues with rage filling her eyes.

"You **were** using the gym." I correct with a cocky smirk plastered to my face. Umi's eyes widen in fury.

"No! Its first come, first serve! We were here first!" Umi yells. I laugh and come closer to Umi, inches away. I can tell by the look in Umi's eyes that she is uncomfortable by my closeness but she refuses to back down.

"Actually we've been first…for three years now, so I believe that we are using the gym now." I see the undeniable hatred bursting in Umi's eyes. Really the Rabaroos have no choice, I always get what I want.

"Come on girls…lets go." Umi growls under her breath, knowing that she can't argue with me. The three push past me, intentionally bumping into my shoulder, and stomp into the ladies locker room. Ming and Shaozu laugh almost uncontrollably once they disappear.

"Now that is how it's done!" Shaozu says as if he made a contribution to the scheme.

"Enough fooling around get to work." I order. My teammate's laughter slowly dies down and soon we are all focused on bending, ready to crush the Catgators. We're interrupted by the loud speaker as the iconic voice of Shiro Shinobi rings out through the whole building.

"Here we go! We will be starting off our night of heart pounding matches in just a moment folks! So grab your snacks and the kids because tonight should be filled with action packed fun!" Shiro announces.

"I should be going; I need to watch the matches to check out who will make it into the tournament." Shaozu explains as he jogs away into the locker room. Soon we can hear the roar of an audience and the faint booming of Shiro's voice.

"Sounds like they started." Ming says lifting up a earth disk.

"How many games are before ours?" I ask as I circle water around myself.

"Four." Ming informs me. And those games sure do fly fast, because before I know it Shaozu has returned.

"Hey guys the match before ours is about to start better get changed so we can be ready." Shaozu suggests while already in the grey and brown Wolfbat uniform. Ming and I change quickly and the three of us head down the hallways until we find the balcony that we will enter the arena from.

"And now the Fire Ferrets!" The announcer screams into his microphone just as we make it to the balcony where the Platypus Bears stand. "Playing against the Pinnacle Place Platypus Bears!" The platform where the Platypus Bears stand stretches outward towards the arena and they walk onto the blue zone waving to the enthusiastic crowd.

"Look at that waterbender on the Fire Ferrets team. That's not the usual one." Shaozu points out. My eyes scan the playing field and I spot the waterbender dressed in a uniform that is much too big for her. Her helmet keeps falling down her face as she lines up on the center line.

DING! The bell sounds and almost immediately the new waterbender knocks a Platypus Bear to the side, he flips over the ropes and dives straight into the water. I have to contain my laughter. What an amateur! Everyone knows that you can't just knock a player off the sides. The waterbender runs around in circles thrusting her hands up into the sky as if she had just won the match. She has no idea what she's doing.

"Oh this should be good." I state what everybody must be thinking. I watch as the waterbender gets pushed back a zone and the match restarts again. The elements go flying but I can't keep my eyes off of the Fire Ferrets waterbender. It's pretty soon after the match restarts that the waterbender gains another fowl by stepping over the line and is moved back to zone three.

"Who is this girl? They would have been better off to forfeit!" Shaozu says while laughing.

"The Platypus Bears take round one!" Shiro announces. "The Platypus Bears know a green player when they see one and they are focusing the front of their bending on this poor girl." Shiro shouts as round two starts. The waterbender girl is being bashed around by all the elements. You can see the girl's frustration from a mile away but suddenly she bends two earth disks from the ground, and uses them as a shield.

"Whoa! Did she just earthbend!" Ming shouts while craning his neck to look at the girl. No way. It's the Avatar. I run to the edge of the balcony and grip the ropes. I glare down at the girl in the baggy red uniform. How did I not see it? The tan skin and the same brown hairstyle, it really is her.

"She's the Avatar folks! Playing in a pro-bending match! Can you believe that!" Shiro yells excitedly.

"That's got to be cheating." Shaozu states while folding his arms and glaring down at the ring.

"The Avatar will be permitted to continue so long as she solely bends water." The referee announces.

"Or not." Shaozu adds quietly to himself. The match is quickly restarted and the Avatar gets thrown off the ring and plummets down into the water leaving the bending brothers to defend the field.

"The Platypus Bears win round two! Round three!" The Platypus bears take a different tactic now, instead of going after the Avatar they push the bending brothers into the corner of zone one. The two fight to stay in the zone but from the looks of it, it won't be long until the Platypus Bears defeat them. The Avatar gets pushed back to zone three and is teetering over the edge but she regains her balance and keeps fighting. Suddenly she turns into a whole different bender. She moves gracefully around in circles easily dodging all her opponents' attacks. I watch as the Platypus Bears grow tired and can barely even throw their element. The Ferrets suddenly look as though they have a chance. They bash away at the Platypus Bears and one by one they fall off the ring.

"They did it." I state in complete shock.

"Looks like we'll be seeing them in the tournament." Ming adds. My eyebrows furrow and I clutch the ropes of the balcony tighter.

"They won't even come close to us in the tournament." I growl.

"And now the Whitefalls Wolfbats!" I slip my helmet over my head careful not to mess up my hair and I step onto the platform.

"Let's do this."


End file.
